Molecular biologist Britton Chance , who combined an expertise in electronics and automation with a knowledge of physiology to pioneer the study of ultra-fast reactions in human biology, died of heart failure Nov. 16 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was 97. An accomplished sailor who won a gold medal in yachting at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki , Chance was a protean researcher who worked on radar systems during World War II, developed optical imaging techniques for studying fast biochemical reactions and proved key biochemical concepts about enzymatic reactions.

GIL McDOUGALD Yankees All-Star was 1951's Rookie of the Year Gil McDougald, 82, the American League Rookie of the Year in 1951 and a versatile member of dominant New York Yankees teams for 10 seasons, died Sunday of cancer at his home in New Jersey, the Yankees announced. McDougald, who played second base, shortstop and third base, was an All-Star in five seasons for the Yankees. He played on five World Series champions from 1951 to 1960. Gilbert James McDougald was born May 19, 1928, in San Francisco and signed with the Yankees in 1948.

The shipyard, hard by the wastewater treatment plant, offers a feast of nautical spectacles: Rusting ferries beached like whales, a barge split in half, a riverboat-like vessel in red and white bobbing by the dry dock. Since opening in 2001, the Connecticut operation of Derecktor Shipyards has built, repaired or upgraded tugboats and lobster boats, fireboats and ferries, sailing yachts, motor yachts and catamarans. But one vessel overshadows all the others. At 281 feet, Cakewalk is the longest yacht built in the United States since the 1930s, when Bath Iron Works of Maine delivered J.P. Morgan Jr.'s 343-foot Corsair IV, a vessel that spent its final years as a commercial cruise ship and ended up a shipwreck.

The ocean seems to fill each room of this airy three-story 1928 home in Avalon that's as much a landmark on Santa Catalina Island as the nearby casino and yacht club. Floor-to-ceiling arched windows and sliding glass doors that wrap the main floor of this Spanish Colonial Revival capitalize on views of sky, water and island cliffs. "You can see anything and everything going on in Avalon," says Kathleen Elliott, 48, of Glendale, who as a young girl spent summers at the house nicknamed La Casa Gaviota, or Sea Gull House, that her family bought in 1972.

Nicholas Edmiston, yacht broker to billionaires, ambled down Jetee Albert Edouard in the Old Port here, the premier pier at one of the premier events for the yachting set each spring, the Cannes Film Festival. To the genial, roly-poly Englishman with thinning red hair, the boats stationed near the street — mere putters that go for $3 million to $5 million — are something of a tacky affront. Most are festooned with signs for European film companies and promotional banners ("Mazars: accountants to the media sector")

Vintage yacht race Edwardian steam yachts, built primarily between 1901 and 1910, are rare, and a race between two of these sleek vessels is even rarer. But at noon on May 15, that's just what visitors in the San Diego area will see when the 1901 Cangarda and the 1904 Medea launch from Coronado's Glorietta Bay, pass under the Coronado Bridge, steam past Shelter Island and finish at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. You can view the race from shore or aboard one of two boats: the tall ship Californian ($50 for adults, $30 for children)

For the Camello family of San Pedro, the repossessed 40-foot sailboat with its mahogany decks and twin carbon fiber masts has come to symbolize all that has gone wrong with their business and the pleasure-craft industry. The sailboat sits quietly at the family business, Colonial Yacht Anchorage in Wilmington. Until the recession hit, the company focused on managing its own vessel repair business and 120-slip marina. Now it's selling repossessed vessels such as this schooner.

Iran has released five British nationals who were arrested after allegedly straying into Iranian territorial waters while on their racing yacht last week, state radio said today. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband talked with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki late Tuesday and called for the release of the men, according to media reports. "After getting necessary guarantees, Iran released the five," state radio said, Reuters reported. The men were released after Iranian authorities who interrogated them found their entry into Iranian waters happened by mistake, according to the official IRNA news agency.

W.I.B. Crealock, a yacht designer, sailor and sailing author, died Sept. 26 at his home in Carlsbad after breaking his hip in a fall. He was 89. Crealock was part of the "golden age" of fiberglass design in the 1960s, when the use of fiberglass made boats quicker and less expensive to build and easier to handle. He worked for several boat makers, and some of his designs became best-sellers. "He was a good designer, a good sailor and a very good shipmate," said Richard Valdez, retired founder of Orange County-based Columbia Yachts.